Ever Wondered What a Vampire Death Looked Like on the Set of HBO’s True Blood?

With the 11th November 2014 release date for True Blood: The Complete Series and True Blood: The Complete Seventh Season, there has been a flurry of competition activity in relation to this final event in the life (and death) of True Blood. But what extras are included?

Well, the sneak peek video entitled Tricks of the Trade has just been released to whet your appetite. The clip features Kristin Bauer van Straten (Pamela Swynford De Beaufort), Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman), and Karolina Wydra (Violet) and shows some of the behind the scenes work that goes into making True Blood so magic for the audience.

Check Out Sookie’s Clothes and Tara’s Fangs:

If you are in the Brownwood area of Texas leading up to Halloween, why not check out some authentic props and costumes from the set of HBO’s True Blood? Depot Liquor has the following items on display:

Items belonging to Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley). Included is a slightly bloodied Vamp Camp suit and Rutina’s set of prosthetic fangs.

A pair of bloody sunglasses that Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) wore in Season 5.

A full glass of wine from Eric Northman’s (Alexander Skarsgard) Fangtasia bar.

One empty Tru Blood bottle.

This display has only just opened up for the general public and are items were purchased through the True Blood props and costumes auction held back in August 2014. You can also participate in a True Blood themed taste testing at Depot Liquor. All the details are below:

The Depot Liquor gang [located at 1001 Vine Street in Brownwood], being huge fans of the show, is hosting a True Blood themed taste testing from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 25th. The public, ages 21 and over, are invited to come in costume and to enjoy the tasting. So plan to dress up and visit Depot Liquor to see a part of Hollywood come to Brownwood and enjoy a little Halloween fun on Saturday.

Michael McMillian, Denis O’Hare and James Frain Weigh in on the True Blood:

For fans of HBO’s True Blood, there were three vampires on the show that were arguably discussed more than all the others: Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian), Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) and Franklin Mott (James Frain).

Steve was an anti-vampire religious zealot that was turned into a vampire and then came out to the world as not only being a vampire, but a gay vampire. Russell Edgington was the King of Louisiana who loved nothing more than to rip the beating heart out of newsreaders on national television.

Franklin, while his time was short on True Blood, was possibly the craziest of the three and had a unwanted crush on Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley) back when she was still a human. At that stage, Tara was very definitely anti-vampire, but, as we all know, was turned later on when she was shot. Frain had this to say about Tara being turned:

When Tara became a vampire, I was like, “Oh! Then we could have gotten married!” [Laughs] She was the one that got away! I just messed it up. I was too forward. I was too eager. I should have held back. But Franklin genuinely thought he was in love with Tara. He thought it was a legitimate elopement, and then couldn’t handle it. I think he needed quite a lot of therapy. Quite a lot.

The three actors got together recently to reminisce about their time on True Blood. Michael McMillian discussed how he is constantly being asked about who turned Steve into a vampire. He had this to say on the matter:

I would love to see how Steve became a vampire. It’s a question I get all the time, from fans and friends — will we ever get to find out who Steve’s maker is? I have my theories, though. In one script, in episode three of season five, it was going to be revealed that Salome was Steve’s maker. I think he gave her a hug, and she said, “As your maker, I command you to let go of me.” And then in a rewrite, that was taken out and the whole scene was changed, and that got lost, and it was never brought up again. So it was a mystery. I really wanted it to be Pam! [Laughs] There was a line when she was turning Tara, where she said she had done it once before and it didn’t work out, so she has another progeny we don’t know much about. So maybe during that year when Sookie was gone, she had to make Steve for some reason. [Laughs] But it doesn’t save Steve from being executed by Eric. I think it’s officially unofficial who Steve’s maker is.

As for Denis O’Hare, he still watches the show and even has an alternate ending for how he would have liked the show to finish:

I was catching up last night [before the Season 7 finale]. It’s a very weird magical world it creates. It feels like a version of reality that’s really warped …It would be great to have a really tacky ending, in which you suddenly go into Bellefleur’s, and a disco ball starts turning, and all the characters from the entire seven seasons suddenly start showing up and dancing. And you watch them all sort of dance with each other — Russell kind of sidles over and grabs Bill’s [Stephen Moyer] hand, and they do a little dance. And then Talbot [Theo Alexander] comes in and he points, “Whoa! You’re back!” And Franklin Mott walks in and everybody goes, “Franklin!” Something like that. A bad disco ending, I would take.

How would you describe your perfect alternate ending to HBO’s True Blood? Let us know by commenting below!

You can read the full interview Michael McMillian, Denis O’Hare and James Frain did with Vulture by clicking here.

Sarah Got What She Deserved According to Anna Camp:

Sarah Newlin (played by Anna Camp) was one of those characters truebies seriously loved to hate. Many fans wanted to see her die a hideous death in Season 7 of HBO’s True Blood – Anna Camp included! Surprisingly though, Sarah survived the series, something Anna never expected after all the atrocities she inflicted on the vampires at vamp camp in Season 6.

Considering Sarah Newlin was the kind of person who followed many different belief systems and managed to convince herself she was being righteous rather than sadistic was being a blood donor slave a fate worse than death? Or did she deserve redemption? Anna weighs in on this:

It’s hard to say. Living in the character, I justified everything she did. It’s hard to say when you’re playing someone like that. I mean, yes, I did try to kill all of them in Season 6, so technically I deserved punishment …She was convicted in what she was believing in at the moment. I don’t know if consciously she was trying to get out of trouble when she turned into a Buddhist – but I think she truly, truly believed that she was. On some subconscious level, it’s a way of exonerating herself from all of the guilt that she felt. She’s just this complete narcissist …it’s basically her world and she’s living in it and that’s OK.

While Sarah ended up a captive at the end, there were many scenes during Season 7 that were very demanding physically on the actress. For the scene involving Sarah being thrown around by Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard), Anna had to wear a harness:

We spent three days shooting those scenes and when I saw it in the episode, they cut so much from what we shot. It’s really fascinating. I was exhausted shooting those things at like four in the morning, because they’re all night shoots …It’s definitely not the most comfortable thing. It feels like you have a permanent wedgie for two hours. Even when you’re out of it, it still feels like it’s there.

However, according to Anna, the hardest scene to shoot was actually Sarah’s last scene in the True Blood finale. She had to hold her arms up for so long that she lost the feeling in them!

What do you think about Sarah Newlin surviving True Blood? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

See All the Photos for Jessica and Hoyt’s Wedding:

With HBO’s True Blood all dead and buried now, there isn’t much else to do on a Sunday night but sit back and remember the show. Here we have some photos to keep you going for a while, along with a thank you to her fans, Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) has posted her wedding photos for us to enjoy.

From Jessica’s blog:

Having this blog as a record of my early memories in Bon Temps — it means the world to me. I’ve got one last thing to share before I sign off for good. Pictures from my wedding! Can you believe it? Hoyt and I are married! It all happened so fast but I’m glad we took the leap. It just feels right to be on this journey with him.

You’ve all felt like my family, and even though you couldn’t be there to share the big day with me, I know you were all there in spirit.

By the way, my favorite picture is Hoyt sitting in Bill’s chair looking very “stately.” Perhaps he has a new calling — mayor? I may be overreaching, but I wouldn’t mind being first lady of Bon Temps…

Forever yours,

Jessica Hamby-Fortenberry

As well as these official wedding photos, StephenMoyer.net has also released some images of the behind the scenes look at Jessica and Hoyt’s Wedding, which you can view by clicking here.

Which are your fave pics? Personally, I love the group shot with everyone looking at the camera, except for Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) – wonder what he’s looking at?

Kristin Talks About Pam and Eric’s Ending in the HBO True Blood Finale:

It seems for a show like HBO’s True Blood, there was much to cry about with Season 7. Besides the fact this would be the vampire show’s final season ever, many of the characters either lost their lives or had to deal with the loss of those loved ones.

But there was one story line that got a truly happy ending; that of vampires Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) and her maker, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard). For Kristin, though, she had no idea where her character might end up by the end of Episode 10 (entitled Thank You):

It was a total surprise to me. I had no idea, and I tried to not have expectations, because that’s how you keep your sanity as an actress. I was just happy to be still on the show. You can never tell with an HBO show where it’s gonna go. To get to spend all that time with Alexander, have Eric and Pam together, and then to have so many varied emotions to play throughout the whole season? We’ve had the highest highs we’ve had in any year, and the lowest of lows we’ve had in any year. For an actress, it was a dream.

With Eric and Pam now running a giant corporation and selling their stolen New Blood product, what did Kristin think the moral to their story was?

The main thing that I felt was that Pam and Eric really do have an unconditional love that really does endure. In my mind, it was an immortal connection. That was what I really began playing from fairly early on, but it didn’t really sink in until year three when we saw Pam’s vulnerable side and when Eric was possibly dying. Because Alex and I got along, it really helped, and this last year, it was just really kind of a true love story that transcended a romantic relationship even.

Another person within her story arc also got a happy ending, that of Ginger (Tara Buck). Many fans have wondered how Pam might have reacted to this. Kristin had this to say:

There was a draft where she did have a reaction. He walks back into the office, and instead of not finding Pam, Pam said, “Did you just have sex with her?” I think Pam said something like, “I always thought it would’ve been louder.” [Laughs] Pam was a little surprised that there wasn’t the Ginger scream, which of course was the writers’ joke, that for once she didn’t scream. It was too much.

You can read the full interview Kristin Bauer van Straten did with Entertainment Weekly by clicking here.

What did you think of Pam and Eric’s story line? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

The True Blood Finale Surprised Deborah Ann Woll:

For Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll), HBO’s True Blood ended with a wedding, but not to the person Deborah thought Jessica would be marrying. In Episode 10 (entitled Thank You) we find Jessica having her happily ever after with Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), the man she glamoured a couple of seasons back after their relationship soured. But, according to Deborah, she thought the story would end a little differently:

If I’m really honest, I thought she’d end up with Jason [Ryan Kwanten]. It seemed the way it was going, and I also was so fond of that storyline and so fond of Ryan. This took me a little by surprise. I’d been trotting down one path, and I had to make a change… [The writers] had mentioned to me they were planning on bringing [Hoyt] back before the season started, and there would be romantic ties. I assumed that it would be a triangle ending in a different way.

While the marriage to Hoyt was a spontaneous one in order to allow her maker, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) walk her down the aisle before he succumbed to Hep-V, Deborah Ann Woll had this to say about Jessica’s growth over seven seasons:

She was a girl who lived mostly on impulse when she was younger and let her feelings have her do whatever she needed to do in the moment. She had very little control. Certainly now, I think, she thinks before she leaps, and she understands when something is a vampire impulse that might not work in the modern world. That’s why this first episode was so interesting for her. It put her up against the one thing she couldn’t resist. In the end, I wanted her to be victorious.

Jessica managed to make it to the True Blood finale, but was Deborah ever concerned she might be killed off?

You worry a lot because it would be very heart-wrenching to many characters if Jessica died. Imagine the storyline for Bill if Jessica died. They could kill me off and have a field day with the results of that. I was always very nervous because it seems like such an emotionally powerful storyline.

What did you think of Jessica’s decision to chose Hoyt over Jason? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter – ‘True Blood’s’ Deborah Ann Woll on Series Finale: “It Was Not What I Expected”

HBO’s True Blood Wrapped up This Week with Season 7:

In the finale of HBO’s long running vampire series, True Blood, it turned out Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) only needed to chose herself. While both Team Eric and Team Bill fans alike were disappointed Sookie ended up with some random stranger, for show runner, Brian Buckner, there was never a doubt:

The deal was we wanted Bill to be correct when he said that Sookie can have a normal life. The twist, of course, being that Sookie chose to keep her power and specialness and persevere despite his belief that she couldn’t be OK without giving up her powers. Charlaine [Harris] took a lot of abuse for choosing Sam [Sam Trammell]. We felt like it was irrelevant who Sookie wound up with. What we wanted to know was that she was happy and living the life she wanted to lead. To introduce some other stranger in the last five minutes of the finale wouldn’t have made a lot of sense. So, we made a choice to say it’s “every man,” it doesn’t matter.

Besides Sookie’s story being concluded, Bill’s (Stephen Moyer) story also saw an ending – by way of the true death. Since the Season 7 finale, many people have been questioning whether this was the right decision to make on a show that has strongly drawn an allegory between vampires and the gay community. Brian addressed this matter with the following statement:

I’ve done some thinking about this one. What I will say to that is yes, True Blood is an allegory about otherness, but when you read a novel that is allegorical, it’s usually about one character. To maintain allegorical correctness across the board with 20 characters is sometimes impossible. You have to pick a center. So, for us in this story line, I think it’s obvious from the seven years that Sookie and Bill were not meant to be [in] true love forever. So now you’ve got to pick whose otherness you’re going to protect. I think the allegory to be protected was Sookie’s.

Then Brian had to justify the fact that for a series that’s staple was sex and violence, there was surprisingly no nudity in the season finale:

I know our show has made its living on sex and gore and violence, but without story that all takes on the feeling of a snuff film. The director, Scott Winant, put in better words than I could. He said I get what you’re doing here. If you’re going to go bigger and bolder than you’ve ever been, then where are you going to go. And so the more surprising ending here is this intimate, small, beautiful story of these people in a small town… To me, you want to know that these people are going to be OK.

How well did you think Brian Buckner handled the True Blood finale? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

Finally We Have Some Information About Mr. Sookie Stackhouse:

While there were many moments to talk about and discuss in regards to HBO’s True Blood finale, probably the hottest question on everyone’s lips was; ‘Who was the bearded guy Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) ended up with?‘

For many it was more about the fact that Sookie didn’t choose Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) or Bill (Stephen Moyer), that she ended up with just some random stranger. But, for Brian Buckner, True Blood’s show runner, it was more about the fact that Sookie chose to be human and have a normal life rather than who she ended up with.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t still wonder, right?

It turns out, bearded Mr. Sookie Stackhouse was picked at random from the stunt doubles on set at the time. His name is Timothy Eulich and he was chosen because he had the best pair of arms there! Recently Vulture got to ask Timothy some questions about being Mr. Sookie Stackhouse:

I was laughing with my wife Sunday night about all the tweets from all the people freaking out about not getting to see Sookie’s husband’s face. It was fun!

However, Timothy hasn’t had a chance to watch all of Episode 10 (entitled Thank You) yet, even though he has worked on set throughout Season 7.

In the past, Timothy has been a stunt double for many True Blood characters including Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte) and even Eric Northman. In fact, when you see Eric catching on flames at the end of Season 6, it was Timothy, in part, you were seeing:

I just did the fire. With everything that we did, we worked very closely with the visual effects team, so they wanted to get the real fire elements for that. I was in a full black suit on a black backdrop, with a huge fire burn, and they went and layered in Alex baking on the mountainside. But that was definitely Alex’s body. [Chuckles.] I didn’t take my clothes off for that!

Besides being a stunt double, you actually get a chance to see his face in Season 2! He was playing a character called Rich, who got saved by Sookie. So, in theory, perhaps Sookie ended up meeting up with Rich again and falling in love:

You know, I was thinking about that, and I don’t think it’s terribly far-fetched that it’s Rich! I don’t think the writers would necessarily think that [laughs] but I mean, Sookie did save Rich from being killed by Eric in that scene, so there was a little moment there and it’s possible it turned into something, years and years later. “Hey, remember that time at church when you saved my life? That was really awesome of you. We should go have a drink sometime.” Yeah, I think it would have been nice.

You can find out more about Timothy Eulich by checking out the following sites:

Check Out What Stephen Moyer Had to Say About the True Blood Finale:

Recently we mentioned that Stephen Moyer (who played Bill Compton on HBO’s True Blood) would be on Twitteranswering truebie questions after the True Blood finale. As well as answering a lot of questions the traditional way on Twitter, it turns out he used he very own, newly created app as well! WEEV was recently launched by Stephen Moyer at the San Diego Comic 2014 and is a handy way to ask and answer questions via video. As a result, fans had the opportunity to tune in on the night and WEEV questions directly to Stephen Moyer.

Many questions were asked of Stephen about the finale, and in particular, about Bill’s death. People were also wondering about who the mysterious bearded guy that Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) ended up with. Stephen had this to say about it on Twitter: